Sunflower Card and Mail Art

The simple, textured background allows the Sunflower to be the star of this card while the Burlap Bow gives it an organic feel.

As fall approaches, I find myself being drawn to Sunflowers for some reason.  The Mason Jar from Stampin’ Up!’s Jar of Love Stamp Set is the perfect beginner for this card.  The coordinating Everyday Jars Framelits Dies makes cutting out the jar easy and neat. The Sunflower is from Tim Holtz’s Flower Garden and it looked like it belonged in that jar.

Card base is Whisper White Heavy Cardstock 4 1/4″ x 11″ – scored at 5 1/2″.  Can I tell you how much I adore this heavy cardstock!  It is a perfect card base and helps your finished cards stand up.  I use it for die cuts too.

Next layer is 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ run through the Big Shot in the Softly Falling Embossing Folder.

I stamped the jar onto a piece of Watercolor Paper and then stamped the stem and flower.  I watered down the Soft Sky Stampin’ Write Marker and used an Aqua Painter to  apply it to the cardstock.  The “shadow” is watered down Going Gray Stampin’ Write Marker applied in the same way.

Okay…Let’s talk coloring…  There are so many options to color and, depending on how much you enjoy it, you can decide on which medium to use.  For this card, I used regular Stampin’ Write Markers from the Many Marvelous Marker Set (38 colors).  Stampin’ Up! has reintroduced Alcohol Markers called “Stampin’ Blends” for those of us who don’t have the time, money and experience to go full on Copic.  You can see more about them HERE. 

The flowers, leaves and stems were colored in using light and darker markers.  The top of the flower is Chocolate Chip and Cajun Craze Stampin’ Write Markers.

The petals are Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry and the leaves are Lemon Lime and Garden Green Stampin’ Write Markers.  If you have the Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack, they’d be perfect for this flower and the Old Olive Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack would be great for the leaves.

A Clear Sakura Glaze Pen was used to “coat” or color-in the jar to give it a glass-like finish.  You can also use a Fine Tip Glue Pen to glaze the jar.  That will give you a thicker, shinier jar.

Mount the Watercolor Paper to a piece of Crushed Curry Cardstock and adhere that to the embossed piece of Whisper White Thick Cardstock using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Next, wrap a piece of Burlap Ribbon around the card front and secure it behind.  Organic Ribbons look best with mason jars.  Each one will give you a slightly different “feel.”  I tried one with a retired ribbon and liked that one too.

I adhered a bow to the ribbon using Mini Glue Dots.  I stamped the greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and punched it out with an Oval Punch (Retired) and then punched out a piece of Crushed Curry Cardstock and layered them on top of each other and then adhered it to the card front using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.  (These little additions to the new catalog are surely one of my favorites.  They’re a must have!)  Lastly, a White Perfect Accents Enamel Dot was added in to finish off the card.  (Yes!  It does make a difference!)

I’ve always suggested that you decorate  your envelopes but lately, I’ve seen some incredible Mail Art and I’m inspired!  This envelope took as much work as the card!  BUT…you cannot believe how excited people are when they get one of these in the mail. The postal workers were excited too!  Just make sure that you have enough postage on the envelope, especially if there’s a chunky bow.  Look for more posts of that new obsession! 😉

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to Contact Me.  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments below. Ciao for now!